The Chosen
by Poesia-Riptide
Summary: Everyone knows CID officers have informers. Not many, however, know that two of them have a special task force- a team of six unusual youngsters, chosen for their skills. Needless to say, crime fighting is never quite the same with this lot. (Inspired by Khotey Sikkey but not a crossover.)
1. Chapter 1

**::/The Chosen/::**

**.**

A/N: Drumroll for me please! Thank you. Because this time (for the first time ever since I first started posting here) I am ABSOLUTELY sure no one will have any kind of problem with this story, because the only actual CID officers I'm using are Vivek, Tasha and Dr. Niyati, with some glimpses of Freddy and Rajat in between.

Also, since there is really nothing at all to bash here, if anyone bothers to bash I will merely have a good laugh at their expense. :)

Hope everyone who reads enjoys (at least a bit)!

Oh, and disclaimer, since apparently it's necessary: I own only the characters you don't recognise from CID, namely the following 6 and a few in the upcoming chapters.

Inspiration credits to Harry Potter and Peeta Mellark (for UV), Leo Valdez and Neville Longbottom (for Vijay), Sherlock Holmes and Luna Lovegood (for Sakhi), Katniss Everdeen and Ginny Weasley (for Naina), Percy Jackson and Ron Weasley (for Mandy) and John Watson and Nico di Angelo (for Sanju).

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Introducing:

**UV**

Age 20. The resident Spidey (or as the boys privately refer to him, the monkey) of the team- he can climb almost anywhere and jump off considerable heights without injuring himself. Vivek found him while he was trying to escape a pack of goons whose territory he'd mistakenly entered. With his troublemaker charm and poster-boy looks, he's also known as the 'pretty-boy' of the team, and finds undercover operations particularly annoying because of always having to wear dark contacts to hide his brilliant blue eyes. His full name is Udayveer, but no one ever calls him that except Naina whenever he succeeds in exceptionally annoying her.

**Vijay**

Age almost-21. Looking at him, one wouldn't guess that he can fix (and build) nearly anything and everything mechanical, right down to making entirely new devices for the team to use in their work- which is how Vivek and Tasha find him, tinkering at a garage. In spite of his incredible talent, however, he's known to be the most insecure one in the group, not just because he's a bit socially awkward but also because of the fact that his right cheek is scarred from being slashed some years previously. The only one in the team he really feels comfortable talking to is Sanju, but everyone determinedly keeps trying to get him to open up more (and succeeding more often than not).

**Sakhi**

Age 20. Known very simply as the brains of the team, Sakhi's department is mainly detection, but she's not a bad fighter when necessary. Vivek and Tasha find her in a library with her baby brother during a case investigation, and she ends up solving half the case for them. An incorrigible bookworm and certified grade-A nerd, she's shy and reticent around strangers but completely and utterly crazy when with her friends. Despite being more 'girly' than Naina, she's got no problem being one of the boys, but sometimes she gets it into her head that no one takes her seriously.

**Naina**

Age 21. The first thing one generally notices about Naina is her unconventional beauty, but once they see her shoot, all else flies out the window. She can shoot like a huntress, even in the dark, and that's how Vivek and Tasha find her- she shoots down a criminal they're chasing and that too from across the road, at midnight. Despite her beauty she's very tomboyish and doesn't bother much about her looks. UV falls for her almost straightaway, but she doesn't take him seriously because he's a year younger than her and plus she thinks he's too full of himself sometimes. She's also very fast and agile, much like UV himself, and has a deadly temper when aggravated.

**Mandy**

Age 21 and a half. As goofy and endearingly clueless as he is around his friends, in the face of danger he turns into a complete terror, earning him the nickname 'Hulk' from UV. His specialty is good old-fashioned fighting, from years of fending for himself on the streets. In fact, that's where Tasha finds him- single-handedly battling three goons all at once to save a little boy who was being kidnapped. Being the oldest, he has a tendency to get very protective of his friends, particularly Sanju. His full name is Mandeep, but hardly anyone ever calls him that.

**Sanju**

Age 18 and a half. Sanju may be the baby of the team, but he's a true prodigy, a technological genius unlike any other. In UV's words, there's barely any technology invented that Sanju can't crack. Out of the six, he's the only one who finds Vivek and Tasha instead of the other way around- overhearing them discussing how to prevent people hacking the CID database, he came up and offered to help. Since then, of course, there was no looking back. Being the youngest in the team, everyone loves him, but he's a little closer to Sakhi than any of the others, though Mandy unofficially takes on the big brother/papa bear role.

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/\\/\\/\\

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Like most stories that promise adventure, thrill and a good dose of OMG-we're-screwed-what-now, this one started with a knock at the door, one fine Saturday morning.

As usual, this event was followed by a small game of passing-the-parcel, in which the 'parcel' was the responsibility of getting up and opening the door. And as usual, it was UV who started, from where he lay on the floor playing Angry Birds with his legs propped up on the sofa. "Get the door, Mandy."

Across the room, Mandy didn't even bother pausing in his diligent push-ups. "57, 58, get the door, Vijay, 61, 62..."

"I'm kind of in the middle of something here," Vijay retorted without looking up, absently brushing his bangs back from his forehead as he intently scrutinised the gears and screws that lay on the floor in front of him. "Get the-"

"Oh, for goodness sake," Sakhi cut in, shutting her book and setting it aside. "I'll get it." She hopped off the table she had been perched on and went over to open the door. "Vivek sir and Tasha ma'am are here!" she bellowed over her shoulder, and as though a switch had been flicked on in their heads, everyone automatically dropped whatever it was they had been doing and hurried over. Tasha smiled wryly around at everyone. "That always happens, doesn't it."

"Every single time," Sanju emphasised, earning him a surreptitious poke in the ribs from Vijay. Vivek raised his eyebrows at the teenager, who grinned back at him, the very picture of innocence. Indeed, that was what made Sanju such an excellent spy- he never got caught, simply because no one ever suspected that childishly innocent face with its wide dark Puss-in-Boots eyes.

"Right," Tasha said, clapping her hands for attention once everyone had taken their positions. In layman's terms, this meant that Vivek and Tasha sat on the sofa and everyone else just plonked themselves down wherever they could find a comfortable space. "We have a new case." At such an announcement, one would normally expect a group of young college-age people to snap to attention in full seriousness, or ruefully resign themselves to their fate, but not so these six.

"_Yes!"_ Naina cheered, gleefully flinging her arms around Sakhi, who was beaming next to her.

"Finally!" Mandy exclaimed, flailing his hands heavenward and narrowly missing smacking a grinning Vijay in the face.

"Thank goodness, I was beginning to think we'd all grow old here!" UV laughed.

"What's the case?" Sanju asked, leaning forward with his eyes shining in excitement and ears pricked up like an eager puppy.

"Well," Vivek said. "Have you all heard of the recent smuggling cases of drugs and weapons?"

"You mean the one in which the shipping company was accused?" Sakhi asked, and Vivek nodded. "That's the one. We recently got information that the company was actually just a smokescreen, set up to take the fall if the racket was busted."

Mandy blinked. "Uh, Vivek sir, please say that again, only in normal-people language this time because I seem to have lost my copy of _Crime Investigation for Dummies_?"

(A/N: See what I did there? ;) Yeah, I'm incorrigible when it comes to bad puns. xD)

"He means," Tasha explained, "that the shipping company wasn't really responsible. There's some other power at work here. We suspect the company was involved only at a minor level, and when the whole thing was exposed, they were framed by the real culprit who got away scot-free."

"Meaning the four different cases were all actually masterminded by one and the same person?" Naina wanted to know.

"Person, or people," UV said thoughtfully. He glanced at the CID officers. "Do we have any leads?" he asked, and Tasha nodded. "Yup. There's going to be an exchange tonight at 11." She grimaced. "At the _harbour_, of all the clichéd places."

"No, really?" Vijay was incredulous, and doubt crept across his scarred face. "Wait, is it just me, or does that seem a little too obvious-slash-convenient?" Across from him, Sakhi shook her head, her brow furrowed. "It isn't just you. I was thinking the same thing." She looked around at the others, and then back at Vivek and Tasha as Vivek spoke up. "Exactly. Which is why we need you kids to do a little scouting."

All six of them exchanged looks, and Sanju was the first to punch the air and whoop. "Disguise time!"

.

"Stop, stop, _staaaaahp_," begged Mandy as UV ruthlessly attacked his bicep with a big black sketch pen, the kind used by kindergarteners. "Sakhiye!" he wailed, holding out his arms to the girl in question with the desperately pleading look of a dying animal. "Save me from this psycho! He can't draw for nuts!"

"Oh, UV, just give me the marker before he bursts a vein," Sakhi said patiently, and UV was only too glad to relinquish the sketch pen to her before rushing off to do his hair. "Right, hold still, Mandy," she instructed, and carefully began to draw a simple yet convincing graphic tattoo design on the painstakingly developed muscles of his right arm.

"Remind me again why _I_ have to be the random drunkard?" Vijay demanded ruefully as Naina held him down firmly in a chair so that Sanju could douse the front of his rumpled, threadbare plaid shirt in _'local-wali daaru'_, as Mandy termed it, from a bottle Vivek and Tasha had succeeded in nicking from one of their informers. Vijay winced as the pungent alcoholic fumes rose from his chest and smacked him powerfully in the nose. "Guys, just as a general thing... That. Is. Freaking. Disgusting." He punctuated each word with a thump on the arm of the chair to emphasise his point.

Sakhi giggled as she went around Mandy to draw another marker-tattoo on the back of his neck. "Well, look on the bright side, Vijay, this'll probably put you off drinking for the rest of your life." Straightening up, she left Mandy to admire her work and came over to Vijay, coughing slightly as the rather overwhelming stench hit her. Still, she bravely stood over him and ruffled his hair, adding to the drunken-vagabond look. Vijay smiled faintly, his eyes half-shutting. "Keep doing that, it feels nice," he mumbled contentedly, unable to stop himself grinning.

The wit earned him a whack on the shoulder from Naina. "She's not your personal masseuse or something, you chauvinistic dinosaur."

"Hurry up, people!" Sanju called. He stood in the middle of the room, dressed entirely in black, right down to his sneakers. With his dark-chocolate skin, this made him resemble an overgrown panther cub. "We've got less than an hour before Vivek sir and Tasha ma'am expect us at the harbour! Girls!" he rounded on them, his hands on his hips. "Why aren't you ready yet?"

Naina gave him a look, and cocked her gun before slipping it into the holster that hung at her waist. "In case you've forgotten, I'm supposed to come with you, little man." Her hair was French-braided down her back, and like Sanju, she was in black from head to toe.

"And I have to sit in the car and coordinate with all of you, so I think I _am_ ready," Sakhi informed him, holding up an elaborate device that connected all the microphones that would be hidden under everyone's shirt collars.

"Oh, no wonder," Vijay remarked as he slipped the bottle of liquor into his back pocket. "For a minute there, I thought you were going with Sanju too, Sakhi." He indicated her clothes- she was wearing black as well, her hair hanging in a ponytail over her shoulder. "The last thing he needs is _two_ mother lionesses fussing over him," he remarked.

"Lucky we aren't putting his papa bear here with him too," UV said drily, punching Mandy in the shoulder as he passed him. Naina seemed to be having a dreadful time fighting down her laughter- all decked up in his disguise, UV made a very charming fisherman indeed. _Too_ charming, in fact, as Mandy voiced the next minute. "Yaar, no one's going to believe this pretty-boy here is a fisherman." He himself, thanks to Sakhi's handiwork, looked very convincing, with his spiky hair, sunglasses, numerous chains and bracelets, devilish smirk and jeans even more ripped than his newly tattooed muscles. No one would have let their daughters- or even sons, really- anywhere near such a disreputable-looking young man.

Once Sanju had been assured, in increasingly loud voices, that everyone was ready, the six of them piled into the van. It was a second-hand vehicle, a gift from Vivek and Tasha, but Vijay's regular tune-ups made sure it ran as well as any brand-new automobile.

"Sakhi, status update," UV called from the front, where he sat next to Mandy, who was driving. Sakhi, wedged in between Sanju and Naina (Vijay having been banished to the back because no one wanted to smell like stale booze), pulled out her phone. "Tasha ma'am just messaged me. She and Vivek sir are ready, and she's asking if we've left."

"Tell her we'll be there in ten minutes," Mandy said as he turned a corner. The moonlight filtering through the windshield gave his face a ghostly look that was strangely attractive at the same time. Naina, from the back seat, watched the pale light reflect off the blue of UV's eyes for a good several minutes before snapping out of it and mentally kicking herself for even noticing. The next second, however, she jumped nearly a foot off her seat as something occurred to her. "UV!" she hissed, reaching over and tugging frantically at his T-shirt sleeve. _"Udayveer!"_

"Ouch," Vijay muttered, peering interestedly over Sakhi's shoulder to witness the scene, as UV turned slowly to give Naina a look that gave him a more-than-slight resemblance to a Basilisk in boy form. _"What,"_ he said, and Naina made frantic gestures at him. "Lenses!" she growled, and he looked genuinely confused. "You forgot your contact lenses, you nitwitted ninepin!" she elaborated, and he smacked himself on the forehead, swearing loudly.

"I'll say," snorted Mandy, and UV quickly dug around in the pockets of his shorts for the little container which held the dark contacts he desperately needed to hide the brilliant and very conspicuous blue of his irises. "How's that mike coordinator thingy coming, Sakhi?" he wanted to know as he carefully put in the lenses, peering into the rear-view mirror.

"I'm working on it, yaar, have some patience," Sakhi said irritably. "I hope you guys didn't bring the South Indian girl along thinking she's a science whiz. Because I'm not."

"Oh, you mean like how you guys bring the Sardar boy along thinking he's a pro fighter?" Mandy was quick to retort, and Sakhi gave the back of his head a look. "Uh, Mands, you _are_ a pro fighter."

"Point to be noted," UV agreed. "But seriously. Like it isn't bad enough you guys expect the Pahadi guy to do the climbing and all that Spiderman stuff. Even though, admittedly, I actually am the best at it in this team."

"Ey, hello!" Naina barked. "Leave the Rajasthani girl to take charge of encounters thinking she's some Rajput warrior princess, why don't you?"

"None of your problems are any worse than the Bengali kid having to do the cooking. I win," Vijay interjected drily, and Sanju burst out laughing. "OK, we have a clear winner here, guys. But it's OK, Sakhi, I'm on your side. Southern solidarity," he said, giving her a fist bump just as Mandy pulled the Qualis to a halt. "Everybody in position," he ordered. "UV, you first. Get down to the docks." UV had vanished before he finished speaking. "Naina, Sanju, out of the car and in the woods, please."

"Take care, you lot," Naina said grimly before zipping up her black jacket and getting down from the van, Sanju coming around to join her. Within seconds, the two of them had melted into the darkness of the woods. Mandy gave the surroundings a sweeping glance to make sure the coast was clear, and swiftly got down, handing the keys to Sakhi. "In case of any emergency, you know what to do, right?"

Sakhi nodded. "I know." She then smiled. "Now go on before they see you."

Mandy flashed her his best poster-boy grin as he donned his sunglasses. "That's the whole point." With that, he strode off, and Vijay tilted his head at a very odd angle to see Sakhi's watch. "It's almost ten-thirty. I think I've got about twenty minutes before my role starts."

She smiled faintly as she fiddled with the dials of the machine on her lap, tuning it to receive the mike signals of their friends. "Good for me, I can't breathe with your very interesting yet overwhelming new cologne of local _daaru_ hovering over me."

"Not fair, girl," Vijay grumbled, and coughed slightly as the aforementioned 'cologne' hit his olfactory lobes rather powerfully all of a sudden courtesy of his slight movement forward. "OK, while we're here..." He grinned, an idea occurring to him. "Hey, Sakhi, deduce something about me just by looking at me."

The girl's smile was almost lazy as she turned slightly to face him. "Already have, my friend. A long time ago, in fact."

"Whoa." Vijay blinked. "Well, never mind. Do it again. Let's see if you're really as great a detective as Vivek sir and Tasha ma'am seem to think you are," he said teasingly, and Sakhi smirked. "Challenge accepted." Her face grew thoughtful as she surveyed him, her eyes narrowing as she tilted her head slightly to the side. The next second, her eyebrows flipped upward in mild surprise. It crossed Vijay's mind that with such myriad expressions within fractions of seconds, she would probably have done well as a classical dancer. Sadly enough, she didn't quite have the build for it, being a little chubbier than was considered appropriate for a girl her age.

Just as he was thinking this, Sakhi spoke. "You have mixed parentage."

"Wh-" Vijay's mouth fell open. "How on earth did you-"

Sakhi didn't bother letting him finish, even if he had been capable of it. "Your features are predominantly Bengali, but your kind of facial bone structure definitely isn't common among the typical Bengali boys I've seen. In such a case I would hazard a guess at either you being a biological sport or more likely, your parents being of different cultures, seeing as how you have a tendency to experiment like crazy with the cooking, which other boys, whom I shall not refer to as UV, Mandy and Sanju, find perplexing on occasions."

Vijay merely gaped at her as she ploughed on relentlessly. "You were also uncommonly averse to being disguised as a drunkard and notably flinched at several instances while Sanju was dousing you with liquor, all behaviour suggesting that you follow, at least partially, a religious code of law that bans alcoholism and denounces it as a sin. I also see that while you don't openly practice either of the two religions to which you can claim allegiance, you've somehow worked the essentials of both of them into a hybrid that seems to work pretty well for you." She smiled. "Well?"

An entire minute passed before Vijay found his voice. "You got all that... within two minutes?"

Sakhi laughed. "Of course not. I made the deduction about your mixed parentage the very day I met you. Oh, hey!" she exclaimed suddenly, her head snapping back around to the machine on her lap. One of the dials had lit up and was blinking. Sakhi quickly put on her earphones and established the connection. "Yeah?"

"Sakhi," Sanju's voice hissed, crackling slightly as Sakhi adjusted the tuning. "Send Vijay out. We think they're coming now."

"OK," Sakhi said, and leaned over to swiftly push the car door open. "Out," she directed, shoving Vijay lightly towards the open door. He jumped out, sliding the door shut behind him, and glanced at her with something like hesitation. "You'll be OK, won't you?"

Sakhi rolled her eyes. "How many times have we all done this routine before, mate? Of course I'll be fine." She smiled slightly. "Now go on, before they come here under the impression that it's a portable liquor store."

He gave her a long-suffering look. "OK, OK. First thing I need to do when we get home is take a good bath," he grumbled under his breath as he went towards the road, deliberately adding a swaying teeter to his steps and humming under his breath.

Mandy, meanwhile, was leaning against a tree, idly rolling an unlit cigarette between his fingers. As languid a demeanour as he was maintaining, his gaze was sharp as he scanned the area. Soon enough, a black van came down the road a few minutes later, pulling smoothly to a halt near the harbour. Out the corner of his eye, Mandy saw a flash of white and blue, and knew that UV had taken his position. A faint whiff of cheap liquor told him Vijay was in the picture as well.

"Hurry up," barked a gruff voice, and a tall, bulky man in a raincoat got down swiftly from the black van, taking long, heavy strides across the road to the harbour. UV, sitting half-concealed behind a fishing boat, narrowed his eyes- the man was obviously making no effort to be discreet. From behind the trees, Naina voiced this sentiment to Sanju, who was crouching beside her. "What the hell is he doing?" she hissed. "Does he intend to wake up the whole neighbourhood?"

"Actually," Sanju whispered back, "I'm pretty sure he's trying to intimidate whoever he's meeting." His teeth flashed momentarily in the darkness. "Can't resist a bit of showing off, these mafia types."

"You've been watching _The Godfather_ with UV way too much," Naina replied drily, and quickly grabbed his wrist with a gasp as she saw the man uncover a bundle of what turned out to be rather antique-looking guns. "Look!"

"Sakhi!" UV muttered frantically into his mike. "Alert Vivek sir and Tasha ma'am _now!" _There was silence at the other end, and he frowned. "Sakhi? Are you there?" he asked, wariness seeping into his voice. "Sakhi, if you can hear me, say something!"

No response. "Dammit," UV mumbled, and pulled out his mobile, swiftly sending a text. Unfortunately, the light of the mobile screen, although brief, attracted the attention of the smugglers.

"What's that?" barked the man in the raincoat, looking suspiciously over at the boat behind which UV was crouching with bated breath.

"What's going on? What are they all looking at?" Sanju asked sharply, tapping Naina on the shoulder to direct her attention to the sight in question. She, who had been scanning the area for any sign of Vivek and Tasha, turned to look, but had barely got a glimpse when her mobile vibrated in her pocket. Frowning, she picked up. "Hello?"

"Naina," UV whispered, his voice squeaky with terror, _"help!"_

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/\\/\\/\\

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A/N: End of chapter one! :P As always, only on the basis of public vote will I continue. :D


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! :D As requested by all the lovely people who reviewed, I am continuing. I hope it lives up to your expectations. If it doesn't, my apologies. :)

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/\\/\\/\\

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"What the-" Mandy sputtered as he gaped in disbelief into the dark and very empty interior of the Qualis. The faint reek of stale liquor smacked him lightly in the nose, and Vijay skidded to a halt at his shoulder, just in time to avoid crashing headlong into the side of the car. "UV said Sakhi-" he started breathlessly, but was cut off by Mandy as the older boy rounded on him with dread flashing in his eyes. "She's _gone!" _he exclaimed. "And there's no sign of the mike control thingy either!"

Before Vijay could reply, the sound of hurried footsteps reached them, and Sakhi herself emerged from the trees beside which Mandy had parked the Qualis. Her ponytail was tossed back over her shoulder, and she was out of breath, clutching at the tree to steady herself.

"S-sorry," she gasped as she approached them. No sooner had she done so than Mandy grabbed her shoulders and gave her a good rattle. "Where the hell were you, little idiot?" he demanded. "And why weren't you answering UV? You nearly gave us heart failure!"

Sakhi shrugged off his hands with some difficulty and narrowed her eyes up at him. If she didn't look like a schoolgirl in front of him, this would have actually been somewhat intimidating. "First of all, don't you dare manhandle me like that again, Mandeep. And secondly, you might want to know what actually happened before you start yelling at me like I'm a naughty kindergarten kid."

She certainly succeeded in intimidating Vijay, who was staring at her with a half-wince as though she was a volcano ready to explode all over him any minute, but Mandy merely folded his arms and looked frostily down his nose at her. "Explain."

She wasted no time. "After everyone left, I was just updating Vivek sir and Tasha ma'am on where you were and all. Then, those guys arrived, and guess what? The raincoat fellow left a couple of his guys here as sentries, and they promptly proceed to notice the Qualis and head straight for it!"

"_What?"_ the boys exclaimed in horrified unison, and Sakhi nodded grimly. "Uh-huh. I only just managed to shove the mike control under the front seat and hide under the back seat myself before they got here and stuck their heads inside. Then when they left, I got out and tried to go look for Sanju and Naina to check if they were OK, but you guys showed up before I got far." Vijay had pulled the device from its hiding place before she finished speaking, and his eyes widened in alarm as one of the dials lit up. "Uh-oh."

"That's Sanju!" Ignoring the headphones, Sakhi merely hit the glowing dial and punched a button near it. "Sanju?" she asked, her voice shrill. A flurry of high-pitched shrieking in Malayalam came from the other end, and Sakhi flapped her hands impatiently. "Sanju! Slow, _mone!_ Slow! And in Hindi this time, I only know bits and pieces of your native tongue and plus I've got Mandy and Vijay here too!"

"All right, quick translation!" Sanju barked breathlessly from the other end. "UV got caught by those goons- hyah!" There was the thump of what sounded like a kick before Sanju continued. "So me and Naina are helping him! Viv-"

A shrill, murderous scream, unmistakeably Naina's, cut through the conversation, and Vijay nearly dropped the device. Mandy took charge at once, leaning over it and raising his voice to be heard above the din. "Are Vivek sir and Tasha ma'am there, Sanju?"

There was quite a long pause, punctuated by the sounds of battle, before Sanju yelled back his reply. "Yeah! And I think a great time for you three to get your asses down here would be NOOOOWWWW!" The last word came out in a feral howl that would have put the late Michael Jackson to shame before the connection terminated. Sakhi only just had time to seize the control device from Mandy's arms and shove it back into the Qualis before she and Vijay were grabbed by the wrists and hurrying after Mandy, who was half-leading and half-dragging them as he rushed down to the docks where a truly spectacular fight was in full swing.

Naina was fighting two men at once, one of whom grabbed her by the braid. The next minute, he took an empty glass bottle to the head from behind for his trouble, but Sanju's triumph was short-lived as he got seized in a headlock by the other man. Mandy quickly dived into the fray and knocked the man out with a forceful application of fist-to-skull. "Hallelujah!" Sanju panted as behind him, Naina made short work of the first man.

Across from them, Vivek was deftly swinging a nunchaku, fighting his way through the ranks of thugs in his trademark style. Tasha, nearby, was taking the opportunity to employ some of the techniques she had picked up from her husband, as illustrated by the flawless spinning kick she did to rescue UV from the man who was trying to strangle him. "Thhhhaks!" the boy wheezed, gasping and spluttering as he massaged his throat, taking deep gulps of air. One of his brown contacts had fallen out, making him look like he had a blue cataract developing in one eye.

Sakhi, whose gift of going unnoticed was certainly coming in handy at this point, was scanning the scene rapidly, her mind racing at five hundred miles per hour. Beside her, Vijay was doing the same, although his focus was on who needed help first.

He saw his chance almost at once, as the huge man in the raincoat, who was apparently the boss, swept a still-disoriented UV up into his arms, making a fresh attempt to choke him. Vijay threw all logic and reason to the winds and dashed towards the man, making a flying leap onto his back and hanging from his neck, kicking at his arms in an attempt to free UV, who was coughing and trying to yell at the same time.

"Vijay!" Sakhi shrieked, trying to make herself heard over the din. "Vijay, your-" she trailed off with a shriek as she was caught from behind by one of the goons. Kicking and fighting, she bellowed across the melee at Vijay, who was still dangling over the chief smuggler's back. "Vijay! In your pock-"

The man who had her clamped his hand over her mouth, and she shook her head violently, momentarily freeing herself. It was only for a moment, but it was enough. "Vijay, _DAARU!"_ she screamed, and the man, with an angry growl, threw her down and knelt over her, pinning her to the ground. The next minute, though, he fell sideways with a loud grunt of pain as Naina, from behind him, swung Vivek's nunchaku at his head with all her might.

Meanwhile, Vijay, thankfully, had gotten Sakhi's message. Clinging on with one hand and his legs, he reached his free hand into his back pocket, where the bottle of liquor was still safe. Pulling it out, he fumblingly unscrewed it one-handed and splashed the contents directly into the chief smuggler's face.

"Ugh!" the man spluttered, dropping UV unceremoniously to the ground as he reached up to mop the liquor off his face, and Vijay seized the opportunity to smash the empty bottle of liquor on his head, jumping off his back just as the man fell unconscious.

"STOP! Hands up!" Vivek's voice bellowed, and a gunshot fired as everyone dropped whatever they were doing and put up their hands, with the obvious exception of the several goons who lay unconscious and/or wounded on the ground, including the boss. Mandy, before raising his hands, threw two more men to the ground, where they lay shuddering.

"Naina, Mandy, round up these fellows," commanded Tasha, gesturing with her gun to the men who were still standing. "And others, take the ones on the ground. I trust you called in reinforcements, Sakhi?"

"Yes ma'am." As if on cue, the police vehicles entered, cops alighting to take charge of the criminals, and Vivek and Tasha turned their attention to their team. "We're going with them to deliver the criminals. One or two of you have to come along to give the statement," Tasha said.

"I'll go," Mandy volunteered. "In case they make trouble on the way."

Vivek couldn't help grinning in spite of himself. "I think the police officers can handle that on their own, Mandy, but you're welcome to assist. In that case, Sakhi, you'd better come too, in case _he_ makes trouble on the way."

UV and Naina snickered in unison as Mandy looked incredulous. "Wh-"

"Oh, just come along!" Sakhi told him exasperatedly. "Everyone knows I'm the peacekeeper in this team anyway!"

"That she is, can't argue with that!" Sanju called cheekily after them, and Mandy, without breaking stride, yelled back over his shoulder. "Shut up, Sanju!"

.

"That didn't take as long as expected," Mandy remarked when he and Sakhi returned to the headquarters after a while. She shrugged. "Well, there wasn't much we had to say that Vivek sir and Tasha ma'am didn't already know."

As they walked in, they were greeted by the sight of Naina wrapping a bandage around Vijay's forearm. Blood was seeping through it, staining the white a deep crimson. UV was sitting behind her, on the arm of the sofa, and Sanju stood nearby, leaning against the wall. Sakhi crossed the room swiftly, kneeling before Vijay and examining his wound. _"Shekh ma shieraki anni zisa," _she said, her wide eyes travelling from the bloodied bandage to his face and back again.

Vijay stared at her for a full minute, looking thoroughly nonplussed, and his shoulders slumped as he finally responded, looking as though he was trying not to smile. _"Me zisosh, zhey jalan atthirari anni."_

The next minute, both of them burst into giggles, and there was a dull yet audible _thunk_ as UV facepalmed himself. Naina blinked, looking back and forth between Sakhi and Vijay, who were laughing harder than ever. "Um... correct me if I'm wrong, but that wasn't Bengali _or_ Tamil, was it?"

"Dothraki," UV said, his voice muffled by the hand that was still over his face. He then flung his hands into the air hopelessly. "I _knew_ I shouldn't have introduced these two geeks to _Game of Thrones!"_

"Ah, well, at least they know how to make light of serious situations," Mandy said drily, smirking as he went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "It's a useful talent." He pulled out a water bottle, nudging the fridge door shut with his elbow before coming back into the hall.

"So," Sanju announced, clapping his hands for attention as he came around to stand before everyone. "Another job well done! Yay for us!"

"Yay for us!" chorused the rest of the team, and UV pointed at Sanju with the water bottle, which Mandy had passed over to him. "Of course, since none of us are even remotely sleepy right now, this calls for a celebration. And as usual, Sanju, you get to pick who gets to pick the party."

"Already have!" Sanju supplied with a grin, and gestured to Vijay with a flourish. "Since this guy here not only potentially saved UV's life but also took down the boss of that gang in the process, he gets to pick!"

Everyone cheered, but Vijay raised a finger in protest. "Hey, wait! Not fair. It was Sakhi who gave me the idea in the first place," he reminded. "So she should get to pick."

"But," Sakhi interjected, before he could continue, "I didn't get injured in the process. You did. So you get to pick and we'll say no more about it. Guys?" she asked, looking around, and everyone conceded with her vote. She gave Vijay a smug look, and he rolled his eyes with a modest grin. "All right, fine! _Game of Thrones_ marathon!"

"Whoa there!" Naina said reprovingly. "There are children present!"

"Wh- I am _not_ a child! I'm eighteen years and five months old, fully a legal adult!" Sanju shouted indignantly.

"You're still too young to watch such graphic content. I forbid it," Sakhi said sternly, folding her arms. "Vijay, pick something everyone can watch together, please."

"How about a _Harry Potter_ marathon?" UV asked jokingly, and Sakhi beamed. "Totally!"

"There are _eight_ full-length movies!" Mandy protested. "It'll take us _two_ days to watch! I vote Sakhi's show." He winked, and Sanju caught on at once. "Ah, yeah!" he agreed enthusiastically. "Let's watch Sakhi's show! What say, Vijay?"

"Done," the latter said at once, earning a confused look from Sakhi herself. "I'll get it!" UV called, jumping off the arm of the sofa and dashing into the room he shared with Mandy. He returned two minutes later, holding aloft a DVD case, and Sakhi groaned loudly, burying her head in her hands. "Of all the lame jokes, you lot!"

The picture on the front was the silhouette of a tall man with curly hair, wearing a long black coat with the collar raised, and across the picture was the name SHERLOCK. Naina burst out laughing. "Well, Sakhi, you certainly can't deny the similarities!" she teased, and Sakhi rolled her eyes as she climbed up to sit on the sofa next to Vijay. "Yeah, well, too bad for me, the similarity ends with the mind. Else I'd have his very enviable cheekbones too." She ruefully rubbed her own chubby cheeks.

"All right UV, now put it on, cause the game is on!" Mandy declared, rubbing his hands in glee.

.

Ringing.

Persistent ringing.

"Bloody old alarm," Sanju mumbled under his breath, stirring slightly. Sunlight was streaming in through the cloudy glass of the window panes, illuminating the room in a soft yellow glow.

Mandy sat at one end of the sofa, his upper body draped over the arm and one hand hanging down to the floor. Next to him, Vijay was half-sitting and half-lying on the sofa, his bangs falling over his forehead and his legs splayed. Sakhi lay with her head on his shoulder, or rather, on his chest just below his shoulder, with one arm slung around him and the other wedged in between them. Sanju's head was on Sakhi's knees as he sat on the floor by her feet, leaning against the sofa. On its other side, near Mandy, UV's thin body was sprawled across a beanbag, his head lolling unsupported. Naina lay propped up against the same beanbag, her head on UV's stomach and her legs stretched out before her. All of them were sound asleep, even in their less-than-comfortable positions.

The ringing, however, was proving a serious hindrance to the aforementioned sound sleep, and Sanju, with an irritable grunt, fumbled blindly for the source of the noise. His bleary, sleep-laden eyes could faintly make out a name on the mobile screen, and he frowned slightly as he realised it was not an alarm, but a call. "H'lo?" he asked groggily, picking up, and Tasha's terse voice came from the other end. "Sanju? We need you kids in Malad right now." Her voice grew grim. "There's been a murder."

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A/N: So tell me, is it just me or am I getting rather good at cliffhangers? :D You guys know the drill- want me to continue, review! ;)

Translations:

_Mone_- My boy (Malayalam endearment, used sort of like how 'beta' is used to address boys in Hindi)

_Shekh ma shieraki anni zisa- _My sun and stars is hurt (Dothraki, dialogue from _Game of Thrones_)

_Me zisosh, zhey jalan atthirari anni- _It's a scratch, moon of my life (same)


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks for the lovely reviews :) :) I decided to throw my continue-on-review-basis policy to the winds. Ain't getting anywhere if I do it like that, especially not when I'm planning on making this story quite long. Anyways, enjoy!

A little clarification: Just so you all know, the character of Sakhi in this story is not, I repeat, NOT me or any self-insertion of myself! :P I just happen to like that name a lot and figured it suits her character cause she's friends with everyone. And yes, as some people may have noticed, I have put a few of my own traits into her, but I assure you, she's not based on me. (Like I already mentioned in the first chapter, she's basically a mixture of Luna Lovegood and Sherlock Holmes.) Just so that's clear. Right. On with the story, then.

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"Has it occurred to anyone else that it _might_ look a little freaky for a bunch of college-age people to go to a crime scene skipping merrily and grinning from ear to ear?" Naina asked sarcastically to no one in particular. She sat on the coffee table as though it were a throne, twining her hair briskly into the usual French braid.

"Not our problem," UV said breezily from across the room. He was combing his hair, using a steel plate Sanju was holding up for him as a makeshift mirror- the bathroom mirror was presently being monopolized by an exceptionally cranky Sardar, and no one dared go near him when he had a shaving razor in hand. Checking himself from all angles, he raised his voice to address the house. "OK, I'm done, who else needs a mirror? Sanju?"

"Not all of us are blessed with the looks of a Hollywood chick-flick hero," Sanju retorted. "And those who are-" he directed this at Naina "-don't seem to be bothered much about it, so I'm putting this plate to its actual purpose." He flipped the plate deftly and strode into the kitchen with it.

"What was that all about?" Mandy wanted to know as he finally came out of the bathroom, his face freshly shaved and his mood considerably improved. Naina rolled her eyes at him from where she was bent over, tugging on her sneaker. "Since the main work at the crime scene is Sakhi's, she gets breakfast first, duh."

"Don't worry, you guys are getting some too!" Vijay yelled from the kitchen, just as Sakhi herself emerged from the girls' room in one of her standard floral dresses, teamed with a blue cardigan. No one looking at her then would have even guessed that she was going to a crime scene, much less that she was going to be the primary deduction expert there. She had only just sat down when Sanju came scurrying out of the kitchen with her breakfast. "Eat up!" he ordered imperiously over his shoulder, hurrying back inside.

"So, does anyone still believe it's a coincidence that we fell asleep watching _Sherlock_ and we get a murder call this morning?" Mandy asked all-too-innocently, shovelling scrambled eggs into his mouth, and Naina grunted in disgust. "For heaven's sake, stop talking with your mouth full."

"Nervous?" Sanju asked, nudging Sakhi gently, and she shook her head. "Nn-hnn." She swallowed, and elaborated. "Not really. I mean, we go there, I just do my thing, what?"

"Exactly," Vijay nodded. "Nothing to be nervous about being yourself."

"You'd be surprised," she muttered in an undertone, scraping the last of her eggs up into her spoon as UV rapped smartly on the table for attention. "All right, men. And women," he added swiftly before Naina could open her mouth. "Vivek sir and Tasha ma'am expect us at the crime scene in fifteen minutes. It's not far, so Mandy, you won't have to break any traffic laws."

"I never do," Mandy responded in a dignified voice.

"Naina, if there are any junior cops over there who happen to act smart with you, please, _please_ don't break their noses."

"Oh come on, that was _one time!" _Naina exclaimed amidst the other's howls of laughter as they recollected the last time this had happened.

"Sanju, Vijay, you two don't need instructions, thankfully, so I'm delegating you to watch over Sakhi."

"I do not need watching over!" Sakhi protested, amidst Mandy and Naina's mingled shouts of indignation and Sanju and Vijay's exasperated retorts. UV groaned. "OK, fine! Sanju, just help Sakhi with all the research stuff cause you're the whiz at that, and Vijay, bring along whichever of your gizmos you think would be useful and operate them for Sakhi if and when she needs them."

"OK," both boys chorused, and Vijay quickly hurried into the storeroom, which served him as a workshop. Mandy, meanwhile, examined his knuckles quizzically. "Hey, d'you guys think I should bring along my cycle chain, just in case?"

"Go right ahead," Naina was quick to snap at him. "And then you can disinfect and apply ointment on the numerous resultant cuts and scrapes on your own."

"It was just an _idea_," Mandy grumbled as everyone left the headquarters, Vijay running to catch up with a particularly loaded-looking tool belt around his waist that jangled as he ran.

.

"Here he is," Tasha said, leading them past the tape barrier into a spacious, albeit rather dull-looking room that resembled a warehouse of sorts. The victim lay face-down in the middle of the room, a large stain of dried blood on the floor beneath him.

Sanju tugged surreptitiously at Vijay's and Naina's wrists, on either side of him. "Watch this," he whispered to them, his eyes twinkling with the grin he was suppressing. As he spoke, Sakhi stepped forward, her entire stance changing as she entered her element. She knelt by the dead man, her eyes roving over him, her gaze settling briefly on certain aspects of his appearance, until she finally looked up at Vivek and Tasha, who were watching her curiously, as opposed to her friends who were all looking at her expectantly.

"Well?" UV prompted, and Sakhi pointed to the corpse. "Rough hands, but the fingertips are smooth. I'd say he handles a lot of paperwork, judging by the small and very thin cut on the heel of his right hand, the most common place for paper cuts. Married, judging by the tan line on his left ring finger."

"That's odd." Vivek frowned, leaning over to inspect the hand in question. "Where's the ring?"

"Stolen by the killer, maybe?" suggested Vijay.

"Likely," Sakhi agreed, and the curling ends of her hair brushed the floor as she bent over to touch the man's hair, moving it slightly. "Hair cut very close, especially at the lower back of the head, indicating he goes out in the sun quite frequently, which is also where the unusually prominent tan line comes in. Also, his forearms are particularly tanned, so I'd say he doesn't wear long-sleeved shirts much."

"Weird," commented Mandy, and Sakhi shook her head. "Nope. Not if you look at his shoes." Everyone followed the finger she was pointing. "Good plain leather shoes, well-worn at the soles but kept in pristine condition. Commonly used with uniforms." Her finger swung back towards the man's hands, and then towards his head. "Neatly trimmed nails, regulation haircut. All of which suggest a profession that places importance on personal grooming and neatness."

"Like in the NCC," UV quipped with a grin, and to his surprise, Sakhi grinned back. "Exactly." She looked back down at the corpse. "Considering all of this, I'd say he was a policeman."

"She's right," Tasha said as she walked in. Most of the people in the room jumped- they hadn't even noticed she was gone. "He's Inspector Pradeep of the Delhi police force."

"Delhi?" Naina and Mandy echoed, and everyone's gazes turned to UV, whose face had drained of all colour. Pulling himself together with a visible effort, he refused to look at anyone, keeping his eyes trained on his shoes. Vivek swiftly came to his favourite protégé's rescue. "Right, Tasha, anything else you found out?"

"Yes, there's been no missing report of him or anything. I contacted the head of the Delhi police force and he told me Inspector Pradeep's been on leave for the past week."

"So how did he end up dead here?" Sakhi muttered, frowning as she surveyed the corpse.

.

Some hours later, UV was sitting mutely on his bed, staring off into space. The normally vibrant blue of his eyes was dim, extinguished like a sky that hadn't seen the sun for a long time. His mind went back, drifting of its own accord, back into that place he'd tried so hard to free himself of.

_It felt like drowning. Only instead of being choked, he felt liberated. Free. For a while, if only a little while, he didn't have to worry, hell, even think about anything. No more pressure to be perfect in every way. No girls violating him with their eyes in the college hallways, no adults judging everything about him, no anything, only this bliss, this delightful weightlessness, lifting him high, higher..._

_He'd always known he didn't have any real friends. There were just people who came and hung around him- and in the case of some, onto him- because he was popular. The reason for the popularity was no accomplishment of his own either, but merely his God-given gifts... a pretty face, as the other boys sarcastically called it, the biological anomaly of his rare eye colour, charm that came with an on-off switch, remarkable athletic ability and to top it all off, a particularly affluent family background. That was all everyone knew, that was all they bothered to see at all. Till date, he was sure no one even knew what his favourite movie was._

_His hand fumbled over the floor until he found what he was looking for, and he rose higher into the blissful oblivion even as a hundred voices echoed in his head, sights flashing before his closing eyes._

_Admiring the monkeys at the zoo... his sticky fingers after an orange ice pop started melting in his hands... climbing a tree for the first time... bringing home a birthday present for his mother only to learn she would be out late... his friend's sister kissing him at a party and slapping him when he pushed her away... music that made his head pound... pretty little face... snow... snow... powder?_

"UV, _look _at me!"

_Thwack_. The dull, familiar sting of a slap spread through his cheek, and he shook his head slowly, disoriented. He could see, through half-lidded eyes, the silhouette of a girl standing before him. "Priya..." he mumbled. "Can't... Don't want... Please, Pri-"

"Damn it, UV!" The girl's voice held a tinge of anguish now as she roughly grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Who the hell is Priya? Snap out of it!"

"Huh!" UV blinked as he jerked back into reality. The dimly lit college hostel room was gone, replaced by the room he now shared with Mandy. In front of him stood Naina, her dark eyes glinting with worry as she stared down at him. The scene was frozen for a full minute, and then, quietly, not saying a word, she stepped forward, towards him. That was all UV needed- with a tiny whimper at the back of his throat, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly, burying his head in her stomach as he fought the rising lump in his throat.

To say Naina was shocked would be an overstatement. Indeed, there was an initial flash of surprise, but her concern soon overrode it, and before she herself realised it, she was hugging him back, one arm around his shoulders and the other hand patting his head slowly, in a manner she hoped was comforting. She could feel his shoulders trembling, but held on tight, not knowing what else to do.

They stayed that way for several minutes, neither of them trusting themselves to speak. Finally, however, UV raised his head, letting his arms slip slowly away from Naina's waist as she let go of him in turn. Taking a deep breath, she sat down beside him, staring down at her hands, which were folded in her lap. "You wanna tell me?"

UV shifted hesitantly, ducking his head and raking a hand through his hair. "I..." The next moment, though, something seemed to come over him all of a sudden, and he thumped his fists on his knees. "Screw it." His head still bent, he turned his gaze to meet Naina's. "You sure you want to hear this?"

Naina nodded decisively. "Whatever you feel like telling me."

He drew a great, shuddering breath. "OK. It basically started in my second year of college." His eyes looked distant and faraway as he spoke. "You'd think because everyone was in love with me, there would be some who actually loved me, right? What if I told you I never had a real friend?"

"Come on, you of all people?" Naina joked half-heartedly, producing a faint, rueful half-smile from UV. "Yup. Me. So it shouldn't be surprising, really, that I fell in with this bunch of guys who didn't care about me being popular and stuff. As it turned out..." he broke off, and Naina unconsciously leaned closer, her brow furrowing. "What?" she asked warily.

UV's voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke the next words. "They got me into drugs."

It was as though Naina had been punched in the lungs. She merely stared at him, dumbstruck, as he continued, his voice starting to shake. "I didn't want to, I know it's no excuse, but once I started, I just couldn't stop... it made me stop thinking, and I just didn't want to think any more, I just wanted to be free..." He trailed off, and Naina hugged him again as he leaned his head on her shoulder. "I know," she whispered to him. "It's OK. You're OK now."

"Am I?" He let out a humourless laugh. "Well, my family didn't think so. I was given a gate pass and shown the door the instant they found out."

That rendered her speechless once again. "They... they did _what?"_

"Kicked me out," UV said flatly. "Packed me off to the college hostel to finish my final year and then it was 'oh look, we don't have a second child, only a first and a third who are unbelievably perfect just like we want, cause there's no room for screw-ups in this most perfect of perfect families'." He waved a hand in disgust. "I freaking _hate_ that word."

Naina couldn't help smiling slightly in spite of herself. "So what did you do then?"

"Well, after a long and weary battle, I finally quit the drugs in my final year, and after that, I moved here. I was lucky enough to be taken in by relatives. And then of course, as you know, I'd been staying with them for a few months when Vivek sir rescued me from that one gang of thugs who were chasing me out of their so-called territory."

"After that, as we know, you wound up with us, and here we are now," Naina finished for him, and he smiled, a real smile this time, albeit sad. "Yeah. Not to sound sappy, but you guys are the best thing that ever happened to me."

"As long as you realise it," Naina smirked, and he pulled her into a hug, which she returned tentatively. As she did so, she could have sworn she heard him mumble something that was muffled by her shoulder, something that sounded like 'allow you'. She found that curious, but decided to let it pass.

Just as they broke apart, the sound of footsteps floated into the room, growing progressively louder until Sanju and Mandy appeared in the doorway. Both looked exceedingly pleased with themselves. "Guess what!" Mandy panted, grinning from ear to ear.

"What?" UV asked, looking questioningly at either of the boys in turn, and Sanju brandished his mobile with an equally broad grin shining across his dark face. "Just got a text from Dr. Niyati! She wants us in the forensic lab!"

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IMPORTANT NOTE: I do not condone or promote the use of drugs in ANY way. In fact, through this chapter, I'm actually trying to deliver a strong social message against drug abuse by showing what it does to people, emotionally and psychologically in addition to the physical effects. If you are ever faced with a situation like the one UV found himself in, do NOT give in to it. No good can come out of drug use, and the further you go, the more difficult it is to leave it. There are some things you've just got to say no to, and drugs are one of them. Stay strong, stay safe.

The last part of UV's flashback was inspired by a similar scene from _The Perks Of Being A Wallflower_ by Stephen Chbosky. And to be honest, I was very close to crying while writing the next scene, where he just snaps and tells Naina everything, because I think- I really think- everyone just needs that one person who'll listen without judging, no matter whether it's your significant other or friend or family member or whoever.

Well, you know the drill. Review if you liked. :)


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: OK, I haven't really got anything to say now. :D For once! So enjoy! ;)

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Vivek and Tasha strode down the hallway of the forensic centre like a pair of lions with their litter of cubs trailing after them. Naina discreetly prodded Sanju in the arm. "If your eyes get any wider, they'll pop right out, little man," she muttered to him, and he grinned sheepishly. "Can't help it, I'm just super excited."

"Excited about going to see a dead body," whispered Sakhi, who was walking behind them, trying her best to blend in with the surroundings. Kind of hard to do when the skirt of your flowery dark dress is sticking out like a sore thumb among the blue spectrum of your friends' jeans. Or in UV's case, army pants. "One would think we stepped right out of a Tim Burton mo-"

"Never heard of him before. Which team does he play for?" Mandy cut her off cheekily, and she elbowed him in the ribs. "Not funny, Cricinfo."

"All right, you kids, quiet down back there," called Vivek over his shoulder. "We're here." He opened a door which bore the nameplate of Dr. Niyati Pradhan, and everyone entered, the kids following at a slower pace than Vivek and Tasha, who walked right in with a cheerful greeting for Dr. Niyati, who was standing over the corpse. Her golden-brown hair was gathered up messily and she wore a colourful sweater under her lab coat. "Hi!" she said brightly, putting down the scalpel she had been holding. "My, haven't you guys grown since I last saw you," she added in a teasing tone, winking at the six, who grinned back. "Even more than my son, and he's _four_."

"You last saw them like three months ago, Dr. Niyati," Vivek said exasperatedly as everyone gathered around the corpse. "So, what does Inspector Pradeep have to say?"

"Well," Dr. Niyati stated, pushing up her glasses with a finger. "It's clear the death wound was from a bullet in the heart, but he was also stabbed in the side with a knife prior to..."

"_Mon,"_ Sakhi muttered in Sanju's ear, tugging on his sweatshirt sleeve. "Vijay."

Sanju followed her gaze. Sure enough, Vijay, who was standing near Tasha, a little distance away from them, was looking at the corpse with an odd expression. His eyes were squinted as though he was deliberately trying to distort his vision, and his mouth was twisted in what seemed almost like pain. Sanju looked back at Sakhi, and a silent agreement passed between them at once.

Slowly and quietly they shuffled sideways, pretending to examine the corpse, until they were on Vijay's either side. He didn't even seem to notice them, until Sanju laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and Sakhi slipped her hand into his. With a start, he glanced sideways at either of them. Sanju, with a small smile, bumped the side of his head lightly against Vijay's, and on the other side, Sakhi tightened her hold on his hand reassuringly as they all turned their attention back to Dr. Niyati.

"But that still doesn't explain why he was stabbed _and_ shot," Vivek insisted, and Dr. Niyati looked across the gurney at Sakhi. "Ideas, little lady?"

"Me?" Sakhi blinked in surprise, then shrugged. "Okay." Letting go of Vijay's hand, she bent over the corpse, frowning. "Judging by the faint facial bruises, the only possibility that's coming to me at the moment is that they must have had a fight, during which the killer stabbed Inspector Pradeep."

"Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention," Dr. Niyati put in hastily. "The bullet was from Inspector Pradeep's own gun."

Sakhi brightened- apparently this was in coordination with her own theory. "So when Inspector Pradeep was stabbed, or maybe even during the fight, he must have dropped his gun at some point, and after he was incapacitated by the knife in his side, the killer snatched it up and shot him through the heart. We didn't find any murder weapon at the scene, did we?" she asked, glancing up at Vivek and Tasha.

"No," they replied in unison, and Sakhi straightened up. "Well, there you have it, then. Inspector Pradeep's gun was probably stolen by the killer to prevent it being used as evidence."

"But then, why would he steal the man's _wedding_ ring?" Mandy questioned, giving the corpse a puzzled look, and Tasha's brow furrowed as she looked at her husband. "Vivek, what did we dig up on Inspector Pradeep's family?"

"Both parents deceased," Vivek said. "He lived with his wife Radha and two kids, Manav and Anvita." He sighed. "Nine and six years old. Poor things."

"Did he have any siblings?" Naina asked.

"Yes, two younger ones," answered Vivek. "Brother named Dev and sister named Sandhya. The brother lives here, but the sister's settled in Goa. No particular friends, except a few co-workers and neighbours. And enemies, he must have hundreds of them, being a police officer and all."

"All right then," Tasha said, clapping her hands briskly once as she always did when she wanted to be listened to. "Sanju, dig up whatever you can about Inspector Pradeep's life. School, college, career, friends, enemies, exes-"

"Whoa," Mandy remarked, his eyes widening at that.

"Vijay, help him with that. Sakhi, make note of all the possible leads and inform us as and when you find them. Mandy, as and when each person who could possibly be connected with the case is located, we'll need you to go and verify that they're still there- those who aren't reachable by phone, that is. UV, Naina..." Tasha paused thoughtfully, and Vivek came up with an idea. "UV, phone duty. Whatever phone calls need to be made, for information or otherwise, you handle them. It'll be much faster that way. And Naina, you'll be in touch with us throughout the proceedings. Keep us updated on all progress."

"Yes, sir," the two of them chorused.

"OK, good. All of you get back to HQ now, we need to go back to the bureau," Vivek said, and Dr. Niyati yelled a collective "Bye, all!" over her shoulder as she bent over her microscope once more.

"So how are we getting home, again?" Sanju wanted to know once the team was out of the forensic centre. Vivek and Tasha had left for the CID Bureau. Naina shrugged nonchalantly. "Get a taxi or something."

"Uh, Naina," Mandy said slowly, looking at her as though she had suggested that they fly home like the Powerpuff Girls. "You do realise... there... are... _six_... of us."

"Oh, just put Sanju on your lap," UV said impatiently, his face a little too bright all of a sudden. "I'm sure it'll work just fine."

Sakhi shook her head frantically at Mandy, making wild gestures with her eyes towards Naina, and he caught on right away. "Oh, wait, how about we split up and go, much easier," he said loudly, and the 100-mega-watt bulb that had been glowing in UV's face fused faster than blinking. Vijay leaned sideways to whisper in Sakhi's ear. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you shatter a boy's heart into a million tiny pieces which not even Vijay can repair."

"I'll say," Sanju snorted. "You should use that for an ad campaign."

"OK, you three, get in that one," UV called, waving the three of them towards a taxi as he got into another one with Mandy and Naina. Hauling herself in after the boys, Sakhi voiced a sudden thought. "How long d'you guys think it'll take before Naina finally notices?"

"That UV's had the hots for her practically ever since they first met?" Sanju rolled his eyes. "We're lucky if they don't get old by then."

.

"Not a very interesting guy, old Pradeep," Sanju remarked, propping his feet up on his bed as he tapped away at his laptop keyboard. "Only one girlfriend in college and she dumped him for a snooty moneybags within six months."

"Exactly _how_ do you know this again?" Vijay enquired as he stirred his bowl of soup, and Sanju smirked. "Oh, I hacked his Facebook profile and found an old chat with a college classmate he obviously hadn't spoken to in years. The poor fellow eagerly asked about the girlfriend, only to be informed what I just told you. Needless to say, that was a short conversation."

"Well, what about the girlfriend, then? Anything useful?"

"She'll probably be married to some guy with barely anything to his name except a nice healthy bank balance, no more than two kids, flashy makeup and even flashier dress sense, big fancy car, bigger and fancier house, but not a very happy marriage," Sakhi said drily without looking up from her bowl, from which she was scraping up the last few drops of soup. Sanju was drinking his soup from a coffee mug that sat on the bedside table he had pulled up next to him. "Exactly," he laughed. "Her DP looks pretty much like a disco ball in an Asian Paints ad. Oh, and she only has one kid. A little girl who looks well on the way to becoming a- what do you girls call it?- ah, yeah, a diva. And an evil one to boot."

"You can't call children _evil_," Sakhi scolded him, and Vijay burst out laughing. The sudden movement caused his bowl to tip sideways, some of the remaining soup splashing onto the sleeve of Sakhi's cardigan.

"Damn, sorry!" he exclaimed, hurriedly setting the bowl aside as Sakhi lifted her sleeve to examine the damage. "It's OK, it's OK," she said impatiently, amidst his repeated and increasingly hysterical apologies. "It's just a sweater, I'm sure the stain will be gone after a couple of good hand-washes."

So saying, she pulled off the stained cardigan and rolled it up into a bundle, putting it down on the floor beside her chair. As she did so, her left arm, exposed by the short-sleeved dress she had on, caught the light, and before she knew it, Vijay had grabbed her by the elbow, his face draining of all colour even as Sanju abandoned his laptop and sprang to his feet, staring down at her arm. Or more precisely, the three thin, pale lines just below the crook of her elbow. Perfectly straight, uncommonly thin scars, which could only have come from one source.

"Sakhi," Sanju whispered, his voice shaking as his eyes travelled from her arm to her face and back again. "What the _bloody hell_ is this?"

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/\\/\\/\\

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A/N: The plot thickens! ;) And in case it isn't obvious, the next chapter will be focused mainly on background stories (duh). But don't worry, you'll get a good dose of action too!

OK, I should shut up now before I go blurting out any more spoilers. You know the drill! :D


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: OK, at this point, I would like to inform/remind everyone that this is NOT a crossover or remake of Khotey Sikkey! In fact, I've never even SEEN Khotey Sikkey. I've just used the basic idea/concept and made an entirely new story. If you guys feel this is similar to KS in any other way, let me assure you, it's totally a coincidence because the only thing I've borrowed from Khotey Sikkey is the general concept of cops assembling a team of kids with special skills. Everything else is purely from my own mind and I will swear to it in a court of law if necessary.

Anyways, a disclaimer: I do not own CID or any of its characters that are in this story, I own only my OCs (original characters). The general concept is not mine, it was borrowed from Khotey Sikkey, but the STORY is fully mine and it is NOT a remake. Again, I have never watched Khotey Sikkey, in fact I don't even know the characters' names except Vikas Kumar's. All I know about it comes from Vikas Kumar's fan page on FB and the introductory promo of the show when it first started airing on TV all those years ago. I have no idea how a person can remake something they've never even seen in the first place. And again, if you see any similarity other than the basic theme, I promise you it's a complete coincidence.

That being said, on with the story. :)

WARNING: Mature themes are briefly mentioned, along with a very dirty word. Not suitable for under-16s!

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"Sakhi," Sanju whispered, his voice shaking as his eyes travelled from her arm to her face and back again. "What the _bloody hell_ is this?"

"Noth-" Sakhi started, trying to wrench her arm out of Vijay's grip, but Sanju held it firmly in place, kneeling down as the boys stared at the scars. "Look, I'm no detective," Vijay said. "But even I can tell that these are most definitely not _nothing."_

"What are you playing at, Sakhi, really?" Sanju's voice was still quiet. "What in the name of heaven possessed you to do that to yourself?"

Sakhi wouldn't look at either of them. Slowly, she pulled her arm free, got up and went to sit on Sanju's bed, silent as a statue. Exchanging glances, the boys went and sat on either side of her, and Sanju nudged her gently with his shoulder. "Spill."

She took a deep breath, and spoke haltingly. "I guess... it's all basically rooted in the fact that I was never very lucky when it came to friends."

"Come off it. You?" Vijay asked incredulously, and Sakhi let out a mirthless laugh. "Me. Girls and guys alike, none of them stayed very long." She twirled a stray lock of hair absently around her finger, as was her nervous habit. "Or, to be more precise, none of their motives for friendship were long-term."

"_Motives?"_ Sanju echoed. "You make it sound like murder."

"It might as well have been." Sakhi stared down at her lap. "I was always a pretty good student-"

"Tell us something we wouldn't have guessed," Vijay interjected, and she gave him a look. "Let me finish, Iqs." Vijay's eyes widened in horror as Sanju, on Sakhi's other side, looked confusedly at each of them in turn. "How... on... _earth..._ did you know?" Vijay asked slowly, looking ready to pass out cold. "I've never even told any of you-"

"Elementary, _shekh ma shieraki anni_," Sakhi cut him off drily, and pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket, waving it under his nose. "It's embroidered in nice bold blue letters on your hanky. Vijay Iqbal Ganguly." Sanju blinked, squinting at the handkerchief in question. "Whoa, hang on. Sakhi, those are nice bold blue _Bengali_ letters."

Sakhi smiled modestly as she returned the handkerchief to Vijay's pocket. "My dad was a big fan of Bengali music. I used to read the backs of his CDs."

"Deviation, deviation!" Sanju shouted, clapping his hands impatiently for attention. He seemed to have picked up the trick from Tasha and latched on to it. "Back on topic!" He looked at Sakhi. "So all of your friends actually became your friends with some motive or another?"

"Yep." She sighed, and gingerly traced her scars with a fingertip. "It was okay at first. There was this girl who was my best friend for years. We used to fight like cats and dogs over pathetic things, but at the end of the day, we still stuck with each other. Then she changed schools after the Class 10 board exams."

"That must have been tough," Vijay remarked sympathetically, and Sakhi snorted. "The worst is yet to come." The next words she spoke were somewhat dragged-out, hesitant. "When I went to the 11th class, at first I didn't have any real friends at all. But as time went by, I started hanging out with more people. And then, what do you know." She made a hopeless gesture. "One of the guys decides to mess it all up by asking me out."

Sanju winced. "Ouch. I take it that wasn't exactly a good thing?"

Sakhi shrugged a little too casually. There was an almost manic glint in her eyes as she stared ahead at Sanju's poster of the footballer Ronaldinho. "Well, when a guy whom you consider one of your best friends asks you out randomly, with a good dose of emotional blackmail, just so he can finally get someone to make out with when he gets tired of being a bloody wanker-"

"_Sakhi!"_ the boys exclaimed in unison, staring at her in mingled horror and astonishment. It was the first time they had heard her swear- at least, in a language everyone knew. Normally she stuck to her native tongue whenever she felt an overwhelming need to colour her speech.

"Sorry, but that's the most polite term I can think of to describe his motives," Sakhi said brusquely, folding her arms. "Anyway, if you gentlemen are over the trauma of my using a dirty word to describe my ex-boyfriend, may I continue?"

"Yeah, yeah, go on," Sanju agreed hastily.

"Thank you. So as I was saying..." Sakhi broke off, frowning. "Wait, what was I saying?"

"Your ex was a bloody- what's the word again? Ah yes- wanker," Vijay put in helpfully, and Sanju looked torn between indignation for his friend and trying not to laugh. Sakhi, on the other hand, continued her story. Some of her depression, in fact, seemed to be wearing off, replaced by the unparalleled fury of the woman scorned. "Indeed. In fact..." Her voice was starting to rise. "After freaking slobbering all over my face like a bulldog in what he obviously thought was a very intense first snogging, in the next few weeks of our relationship he proceeds to make his intentions perfectly clear. Of course, he did try to cover it up with oodles of very emotional dialogue designed to appeal to my sensitivity, but yes, his motive, or rather, his aim, was to get into my pants."

"_Please_ tell me you didn't?" Sanju's voice was faint, and there was clear terror in his face. Vijay, on Sakhi's other side, was doing a better job of maintaining his composure, but his unusually wide eyes betrayed his wariness. She, much to their relief, gave them both an appalled look and whacked them on the shoulders. "Well of _course_ I didn't! I may have been a pathetic little mouse back then, but I wasn't _that_ stupid, you know!"

"OK, OK, point taken!" Vijay said hastily, half laughing in relief, as opposed to Sanju who was openly sighing and crossing himself. The younger boy wasn't normally that religious, but under duress, his faith often displayed itself. The next minute, however, he suddenly sat up straight, his brow furrowing. "Sakhi. We're deviating _again_." His tone was stern as he pointed to her scars. "Explain."

"Oh, that." Sakhi's voice grew quiet, and the boys shifted a little closer to hear her better. "Well, after my breakup- which was a grand whopping five weeks after we got together- I got over it almost immediately. Not because I'm heartless-"

"Duh, you're not."

"Thank you- but it was because I never actually liked him as more than a friend anyway. And _then_ came college. Which was good, because I could just fling myself headfirst into my work and ignore everything else." She snorted. "But no, life had something else in store for me. _Multiple_ something-elses."

The boys didn't know whether to look wary or curious, so ultimately settled for a mix of both.

"Let's start off with the fact that my parents decided to separate about a few months into my second year. My father moved here, and..." Sakhi drew a great, shuddering breath, resting her chin on her fists. "One day he found out that the principal of the university he worked at was involved in illegal activities. He was going to report them, but before that, they..." She broke off, shaking her head and biting her lip in a valiant fight to retain her composure. Sanju swore under his breath, and Vijay laid a consoling hand on Sakhi's shoulder. She shook her head again, this time like an irritated dog, and continued, steeling her voice.

"Believe it or not, two weeks- _two weeks_ later, my mother found out she was going to have another baby. The doctors didn't mince words, they let her know it was potentially life-threatening to deliver a kid at her age, but my mother wouldn't stand for it, oh no. She wanted that child more than anything, it was all she had left of my father."

"But she had _you_," Vijay pointed out, and Sakhi let out a mirthless laugh. "Me? Nah. I was never good enough. For anyone, actually. In between being not-good-enough, I took care of my pregnant mother, did all my college work, including quite a bit of work my so-called friends were supposed to do, I might add, and I still, still managed to maintain my winning streak of the not-good-enough award." As she spoke, Sanju's eyes dropped to her scars as a look of comprehension flitted across his face, and she smiled sadly, reaching up and briefly ruffling his hair. "Well deduced, _mon_. I seem to be having a good influence on you."

"Why, though?" he asked, his voice soft. "Why punish yourself for things beyond your control? Did you really feel _that_ bad about yourself?"

"I actually think she cut so she could feel something apart from what everyone else made her feel," Vijay said quietly. "Am I right, Sakhi?"

"Clichéd truth of life, the quietest one is often the most perceptive," Sakhi joked half-heartedly, and nodded. "Exactly. Not to mention, I always liked to draw."

"'Draw', it seems." Sanju shuddered. "Girl, you sounded like a psychotic serial killer just then."

"There are only three cuts, though," Vijay observed, frowning slightly as he glanced at them. "What made you stop? I thank both the higher powers I worship for it."

In answer, Sakhi smiled faintly, silently reaching up to her neck and pulling, from beneath her dress, a small gold locket on a long, thin gold chain. It was rectangular, like a dog tag. She opened it to reveal a photo of a little boy, about two years old, with a cute heart-shaped face and a sweet smile that had an undeniable trace of mischief. Tufts of dark hair stuck up all around his head, some falling forward onto his forehead. It was his eyes, however, big, shining dark brown eyes, that left no doubt as to who he was.

"Your baby brother?" Sanju guessed, leaning in to get a better look and smiling at the picture. "He's adorable. What's his name?"

"Ayan," Sakhi said. "He turns two this July." She looked at the picture fondly for a minute before closing the locket and tucking it back under her dress. "I'm all he has, you know. Mother, sister, caretaker, everything." Her tone dropped, her head lowered once more. "My mother died giving birth to him. Since then, he's been the only reason I'm still here."

This was too much for Sanju. Wordlessly, he reached out and looped his arms around Sakhi in a sideways hug, Vijay following suit, and finally, after years of holding it together for the sake of a baby who needed her, she let herself cry. Indeed, the boys themselves had a hard time not doing the same.

A good half hour later, when they all calmed down enough to break the group hug and pull themselves together, Sanju hibernated his laptop and set it back on its usual place, the bedside table. "I really don't feel up to doing any more work right now," he declared, massaging his head and lying back down on the bed. "Let's just lie down for a bit."

"Please," Vijay agreed, sounding relieved as he let himself fall backwards, his head luckily hitting a pillow instead of the headboard or worse, the wall. Sakhi looked down at the two of them with incredulity. "Where am I supposed to lie down?" she demanded huffily, and Vijay rolled over onto his side to make 'room' for her, which would have been a comfortable fit... for a cat, perhaps. Sakhi glowered at the boys, who were putting up all appearances of being fast asleep. "Well, you two certainly aren't getting nominated for any Gentleman of the Year awards." Sighing, she slid down to the floor and lay down, curling up into a foetal position.

And that was how UV, Mandy and Naina found them when they came home a couple of hours later. Of course, Naina's reaction was immediate.

"Sheesh!" she exclaimed in indignation, storming over to the bed and glaring down at the sleeping boys. "What kind of men are you? Making a girl sleep on the floor while you two skinny little shrimps occupy the entire bed like it's your ancestral property? I for one am shocked!" she bellowed, to zero response from the receiving end.

UV, rolling his eyes, simply strode over and dragged Sanju closer to the edge of the bed, pulling Vijay after him so that there was enough space on the other end. Once this was done, Mandy carefully picked Sakhi up, lifting her off the floor as slowly as possible, for though she was quite small, she wasn't the lightest of creatures and it definitely wouldn't do to drop her halfway. As he set her down on the newly cleared space, his eyes caught sight of the scars on her arm. His brow furrowing, he sneaked a glance at UV and Naina, who were, thankfully, still occupied with adjusting Sanju and Vijay without waking them up.

Looking back down at Sakhi, who was pouting slightly in her sleep- possibly she wasn't having the best of dreams- Mandy discreetly draped her scarred arm across her stomach, facing down so the scars were hidden from sight. "What have you been doing, little Sherlock?" he muttered, frowning down at her.

.

"Thinking," Sakhi said, not looking up from the coffee table at which she was staring with so much intensity that the others had half-expected it to have a gaping hole burned it in by now.

"About what?" UV enquired, from where he was lying in his favourite position- back on the floor, legs draped over the sofa. "The case?"

"That's all she's been thinking about for the past two hours," remarked Naina, who was polishing her gun. The bullets lay in a neat pile on the floor in front of her. "And Sanju's head has been buried in his laptop the entire day." She shrugged with a grin. "We should probably just let the geniuses do their stuff while we prepare for _our_ stuff, which is soon to follow." She gave her gun a stylish movie-cop twirl before carefully reloading the bullets into it.

"If you shoot me, I will strangle you," Mandy warned, pointing at her in a mock-threatening way. "I don't care if you're a warrior princess, I'm blood of the lion."

"Lannister," Sakhi mumbled under her breath just as Naina threw her cleaning rag at Mandy. "For the last freaking time, being Rajasthani and a good shot does not automatically make me a warrior princess any more than being a Sardar and a good fighter automatically makes you qualified to be an army general!"

"Oh, shut it!" Vijay yelled from his workshop, the door of which stood half-open. "I'm trying to take out a particularly delicate screw here, and if I lose it, I'll kill you all with the kitchen knives!"

"Knives..." Sakhi repeated absently, and within a flash, she was sitting bolt upright. "Knives! Of _course!"_

"What? What is it?" Naina demanded as she, UV and Mandy all jumped to their feet, giving Sakhi their full attention. She rose from the sofa, her eyes wide and bright. "Think about it," she said. "Inspector Pradeep was shot with his _own_ gun... which was found at the crime scene before we got there, I checked with Tasha ma'am. But, he was also stabbed with a knife before it."

"But we already _know_ that," UV said confusedly. "So?" Behind him, Vijay had emerged from his workshop, his hair messed up and his T-shirt dirty.

"So," Sakhi continued. She had started pacing back and forth, as she always did when she was giving a particularly in-depth explanation. "The killer could have brought any weapon with them when they came to meet Inspector Pradeep. Why a _knife?_ And not a particularly big knife either, judging by the size of the wound. Vijay?" she stopped pacing abruptly, rounding on him. "You know knives. What kind of a knife would have a blade this long and this wide?" She indicated the sizes with her fingers, and Vijay's mouth dropped open. "No way. A _pocket_ knife."

"Bingo!" Sakhi said triumphantly. "What does that tell you?" She resumed pacing, her face glowing with the fervour of her mental processing. "The killer didn't bring any useful weapons with them, which is why they had to use Pradeep's own gun to kill him. And the only weapon they did bring is something a lot of people commonly carry around, which would come in handy as a murder weapon only to trained assassins or practiced killers."

"How do you know he wasn't a trai-" Mandy started, but Sakhi cut him off. "Because he stabbed the victim in the _side_." She shook her head, her pacing more rapid than ever. "If the killer was a trained assassin, they could have incapacitated Inspector Pradeep _without_ a weapon and used the pocket knife very effectively to finish the job. But the pocket knife was used to incapacitate him, and in the side no less. Why not in the chest or even the back?"

"So you're saying... maybe they hadn't actually planned on killing him," Naina said slowly, realisation dawning on her face, and Sakhi beamed. "Exactly! This, my friends..." she held her arms aloft dramatically, "...is a crime of passion, not intention. As proved by the missing wedding ring."

"Wait, I thought we already established that the ex-girlfriend is clean?" Vijay asked, looking puzzled. Sakhi narrowed her eyes at him. "Who's to say it works only one way?" she whispered with a smirk, just as Sanju burst out of his room, carrying his laptop. "You guys will _never_ believe what I just found out!"

Everyone quickly gathered around him, and Sanju took a deep breath. "I think I know why the wedding ring went missing." He held up his laptop, and the others peered over his shoulder at the screen, which showed a Facebook profile. "Who's that lady?" UV asked.

"Wait, that's Inspector Pradeep's wife, isn't it? Radha?" Naina pointed to the screen. "We were tracking her yesterday, remember?"

"Indeed," Sanju said, an almost manic grin spreading across his face. "I did a little snooping around, and guess who visits her profile nearly every single day and likes every single one of her posts?" He clicked away rapidly, and the browser went to another profile. "Dev. As in Inspector Pradeep's younger brother, Dev."

"Well, that doesn't prove anything, though," Mandy pointed out, and Sanju shook his head. "I'm just getting started." He opened a new tab. "I hacked into Dev's email, and found this in the Drafts folder."

"Wh-" Vijay gasped. "Is that what it looks like?"

"Yep." Sakhi was the only one who didn't seem surprised at all. In fact, she looked satisfied. "Behold, Mr. Dev-who-turns-out-to-be-the-total-opposite-of-his-name's secret obsession with his sister-in-law. And I honestly can't say I blame him, either. For a mother of two, she's hot."

"Doesn't make it any less disgusting!" Naina said with a shudder. "God, look what the sick creep has here. Most of these were taken when she wasn't looking, and not even _aware_ that she was being photographed!"

"Call up Vivek sir and Tasha ma'am _now!"_ UV ordered, shifting into leader-mode in the blink of an eye, and before anyone could move, he himself had whipped out his phone, dialling swiftly. "Hello, Vivek sir? We found something." He hastily explained the story to Vivek, and fell silent for a couple of minutes. "He's tracking," he mouthed to the others, and perked up as Vivek said something from the other end. "Yes sir. What?!" he exclaimed, and everyone else stared at him, wondering what was up. "Yes sir, we'll be there straight away. OK, sir."

Disconnecting the call, he turned to face the others. The glint that usually accompanied the news of an important mission flashed in his blue eyes. "Dev's gone to his sister's place in Goa, and planning to escape to London from there. His flight leaves in less than four hours. We have to catch him before then!"

"So what are we still doing here?" Mandy enquired, looking around at everyone, and a shark-like grin broke out on his face. "Let's go!"

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"You know," Sanju shouted over the din of the helicopter as the wind whacked against his face, "I'm seriously starting to regret this choice!"

"Don't even talk!" Sakhi retorted. She'd tied her hair back into a ponytail, but several loose strands still whipped around in the wind, frequently getting in her eyes. "I'll have you two know I'm bloody _terrified_ of heights!"

"Chill, we've got you," Mandy assured her loudly. Due to the unfortunate lack of space, he was kneeling on the floor of the helicopter, at their feet. "And I'm pretty sure we'll reach Goa soon enough. Lemme just get a look at that route map..." He twisted around, trying to peer at the pilot's map, his feet extending dangerously out of the helicopter's open side. "For heaven's sake, be careful," Sanju barked at him.

He was just a minute too late. Before Mandy could reply, the helicopter suddenly experienced a jolt of turbulence, and Mandy slid feet-first out of the side.

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/\\/\\/\\

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A/N: *filing nails innocently* La dee da dee de dee da. Oh look. Another cliffhanger. You know what to do. :)

Translations:

Wanker- A really bad insult for a guy. It basically means a guy who, to put it delicately, fools around with himself. (British slang)

Snogging- Kissing, as in the heavy kind. (Again, British slang. Yeah, Sakhi's quite fond of British slang. xD)

_Shekh ma shieraki anni_- My sun and stars (Dothraki, _Game of Thrones_ dialogue)

_Mon_- Son (Malayalam)

Mandy's dialogue 'I am blood of the lion' is inspired from a similar dialogue from _Game of Thrones_ (I am blood of the dragon). Sakhi calls him 'Lannister' for that because in _Game of Thrones_, the Lannister family's mascot is the lion.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Sorry about that last cliffhanger… NOT. x'D Enjoy!

Sakhi and Naina's little adventure in this chapter is dedicated to Daya's Girl, for her recent post regarding the issue of the objectification and harassment of women in society.

WARNING: Quite a bit of violence and mature themes. Not for under-16s.

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The helicopter suddenly experienced a jolt of turbulence, and Mandy slid feet-first out of the side. Sakhi let out a bloodcurdling shriek as he quickly grabbed on to the rim of the opening, and she hurriedly bent over and caught him by the arms. Meeting his wild-eyed stare, she saw raw fear flash across his face for the first time since she'd met him. "You know, if you let go, I won't hold it against you," he said, his voice sounding a little shaky.

"Like hell I will," Sakhi retorted, and attempted to pull him up. "Damn, what the hell do you eat, mate?" she grunted as she tugged with all her might. It was pretty much in vain, however- he barely moved a few inches.

"I've got this!" came Sanju's voice from behind her, and he knelt down on the floor of the helicopter, grabbing one of Mandy's wrists. "Now you hold his other hand," he instructed Sakhi, who obliged at once, and together, both of them succeeded, albeit with a great effort, in pulling Mandy safely back into the helicopter. All three of them sat huddled together, Sakhi sprawled across the seat and the boys kneeling on the floor, breathing heavily as they leaned against the seat. Up front, the poor pilot, who had been scared out of his wits, was trying desperately to pull himself together.

It was, uncannily, Mandy himself who found his voice first. "Well, that was… something."

Sakhi glared at him through the stray hair that was falling all around her face. "You think?" she asked, her tone of voice bordering on hysterical. "It would have been something _else_ if you'd actually fallen from 200 feet up!"

"Okay, okay," Mandy laughed breathlessly, holding up his hands in surrender. "I, Mandeep Singh Walia, do solemnly swear to not try to make light of my almost-death again. Happy?"

She rolled her eyes. "For the time being. Now get up off that floor, both of you, I don't want a repeat performance of that little stunt."

"I don't think it'll happen again on _this_ trip," Sanju remarked, glancing at the view below them, "cause it looks like we've reached."

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"Stop or I'll shoot!" Vivek yelled at the fleeing Dev's back as they chased him out of the house. Tasha dived into the car, Mandy, Sakhi, Sanju and Vijay piling up in the back. Sakhi was slung across both Vijay's and Sanju's laps, her head leaning as far out of the window as was safe. "Down the road and around the left corner!" she called to Tasha, and Vivek hastily climbed into the car just as his wife pulled out of the driveway with a screech of tyres.

UV and Naina, however, had a different plan of action. There was a bicycle propped against the side wall- presumably that of the manservant, who was standing paralysed with fright beside the doorway, and UV swiftly mounted it, Naina perching on the front bar with all the grace of a jungle cat and pulling out her gun. "We'll return it for sure!" she shouted over her shoulder at the manservant, who managed to give her a weak smile through his still shell-shocked expression.

Dev, who was on a motorbike- and a very good one at that- was tearing through the streets. Fortunately, since it was still quite early in the morning and a weekend at that, there wasn't much traffic yet, but he still succeeded in nearly running over at least four people, leaving them yelling after him. They were cut off abruptly, however, by the strange procession that followed- a car stuffed full of rather crazy-looking young people, the woman at the wheel driving like there was no tomorrow, and a little distance behind, a boy and a girl on a bicycle, the girl wielding a gun with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"We're gaining on him!" Vivek said, and sure enough, they were close enough to Dev that the number on his licence plate was readable.

"I have an idea," Vijay muttered, and moved Sakhi's knees off his legs so he could dig into one of the pockets of his tool belt. Unearthing a small bottle, he handed it to Sanju. "When we get close enough to him, lean out the window and squirt this on the wheels of his bike."

"What's that?" Sakhi asked suspiciously, squinting at the bottle, and Vijay smirked. "A particularly powerful superglue."

"_What?"_ Mandy's arm had shot out and snatched the bottle from Sanju before anyone could blink. "You can't do that to a perfectly good bike!" he protested. "That's like the lowest of lows!"

"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, MANDEEP!" roared Tasha from the front seat, but before a decision could be reached on the superglue, Vivek's view through the windshield was obstructed by the back of a blue hoodie, and a gunshot fired through the air, followed by a shriek and an almighty crash.

"What was that?" Vijay demanded, and it was Sanju's turn to stick his head out the window and peer out at the scene before them. An incredulous grin broke out across his dark face. "_That_," he said with the air of a television anchor, "was Naina."

Sure enough, Dev's motorcycle lay on the roadside, its front part rather unfortunately dented (that made Mandy wince as though it was the corpse of a little lamb). The man himself was flailing helplessly, tangled in the ruined vehicle. The shin of his left leg was bleeding quite a bit, and Naina stood threateningly over him, her gun trained on his face. UV, still straddling the bicycle for some reason, was grinning triumphantly beside her.

"All right, Dev," Tasha said in a businesslike tone, bending over the man, "I think that's quite enough running for a long, long time." The handcuffs clicked into place, and Vivek pulled the man to his feet. The adventure of the day was far from over, however, for just as Dev was being loaded into the car the local police had brought- a bystander had thankfully had the sense to call them about the little disturbance- there was another altercation just down the road.

A young woman was being chased down the street by two rather drunk-looking men, who were swiftly gaining on her. Sakhi met Naina's eyes, and the girls looked around at their male peers, who were getting ready for action. "Oh no you don't," Naina said, holding up a warning hand. "This one's on us. Come on, Sakhi."

Before any of the boys could respond, she had grabbed Sakhi's hand, and the two of them were racing down the street, towards the men. "Girls!" UV yelled after them in alarm, but Mandy shook his head. "No," he said. "Let them handle this. If it gets out of hand, we'll step in... but I don't think we'll need to."

The fleeing woman nearly ran headlong into Sakhi, who caught her by the shoulders and swung her around, giving her a shove in the opposite direction. "Guys, take care!" she called, and Sanju, being the least intimidating of the four boys, quickly hurried over to escort the woman to what had now become the 'safe zone' of the street. The men, meanwhile, had skidded to an abrupt halt, finding themselves staring down the barrel of Naina's gun. Quickly, or as quickly as their drink-addled minds could process the situation, they turned and ran wildly.

Naina, however, wasn't going to let them off easily. "After them!" she yelled, and she and Sakhi dashed off in pursuit of the two assaulters. The victim of the aforementioned assault, who was shivering in spite of being huddled in Tasha's jacket, looked bewildered. She appeared to be just past her mid-twenties. "They're... they're seriously going after those drunks?"

"Yep." Sanju smiled at her. "Don't worry, our girls can handle themselves."

"And if things get out of hand, we'll go along," Mandy assured her, and UV glanced at him. "You really think the girls need help?" he asked, a tone of worry in his voice, and Vijay scoffed. "Help? We'll just go along to make sure they don't kill those guys."

The guys in question were fast, but Sakhi and Naina had the advantage of being both light on their feet and perfectly sober. Within minutes, they'd caught up, and Naina kicked the nearest one very hard in the shins, knocking him flat on his face as Sakhi dived at the other, throwing him to the ground. "Goodnight, sucker," Naina snarled at the first man, before bringing the handle of her gun heavily down on his head, knocking him out instantly.

She stood over the other man with one foot firmly over his ankles as Sakhi knelt across his chest. The detective's normally serene face looked totally different all of a sudden, her eyes narrowed and her teeth clenched. Her whole expression spoke of unadulterated disgust. "Going somewhere, mate?"

The man sputtered incoherently, and there was a sudden glint as Sakhi produced a small knife and held it against the front of his trousers. "You think this thing in here makes you oh-so-powerful, don't you, my friend?" she asked, her voice innocently casual. He began to whimper like a frightened cat, and Sakhi smiled down at him as she leaned closer, her eyes seeming to reflect the shine of the blade. "What do you think would happen if I cut your worthless little willy off, right now?" She turned the blade so the sharp edge rested right over the part in question, and the man let out a horrified squeal. "P-please, no!"

Naina raised her eyebrows. "'Please, no'?" she mimicked in a high, chipmunk-like tone. "Aw, just listen to the poor little thing. No, actually, why _should_ we listen to you? Did _you_ listen to that girl when she was saying the same?" She raised her gun, pointing it squarely at his heart, and the front of his trousers suddenly darkened under Sakhi's knife. She made a _tsk_ of disapproval. "Oh, my, looks like our friend here just pissed himself like a little baby. And since little babies must learn, let's take a little class for him, shall we?"

"All right, I think that's enough," UV said warily, but Mandy grunted in annoyance and swatted him on the shoulder. "Shush! It's just getting good! Let them do it!"

"Now repeat after me, my friend," Sakhi said cheerfully, as the man's terrified eyes flitted from her knife to Naina's gun and back again. "_A... woman... is... not... a... toy_. Say that, now, like a good little boy?" She pressed the blade down, the tiniest fraction, and the man repeated hurriedly, his voice shaking. "A w-woman is... is n-not... a- a toy!"

"Good," Naina complimented, and cocked her gun, the click audible to the entire street courtesy of the hushed silence everyone was maintaining. "Now say, '_I... will... never... disrespect... a... woman... again'_. Go on, now."

Fortunately for him, the man was quick to learn. "I will... I will never d-disrespect a woman... again!" he gabbled. Sakhi's grin was almost shark-like now. _"'And if, for some reason, I ever forget this, the woman I am disrespecting has full authority to cut off my offending willy so that I may... never... forget... again.'_"

"Oh, that's a good one," Naina said approvingly, and Sakhi gave the man a sweet smile. "Well, what are you waiting for, dear? Would you rather agree to those terms, or shall I make it simpler for you and get rid of the offending willy in question right now?" She raised the blade swiftly, but before she could bring it down, the man let out a screech of horror and grabbed her free hand. "No no no! Please don't! Please, I'll do whatever you say! Just don't do it!"

"And while you're at it," Naina's voice was dangerously loud, "you can also get it into your head that you _do_... _not_... _touch_ a girl when she doesn't want you to!" With a flick of her wrist, the gun was now aimed at his hand, and he let go of Sakhi's hand as though it had caught fire. She wiped it off on the skirt of her dress, and set the blade against the wet front of his trousers again. "So, make your decision!"

"All right, all right!" the man yelled, taking several shuddering breaths. "If... if I forget... the woman... the woman has the right to..."

"The _full_ right-"

"Th-the f-full right... to- to cut off my... thing... so I w-won't... forget... a-again."

"Yes, she does." Naina swiftly jerked her gun upwards. "Let him up before the entire street starts smelling like his piss." Sakhi wiped her knife on his shirt before getting up, letting him scramble haphazardly to his feet. He gave her a wild-eyed look, still shivering like a leaf. "You're... you're a bloody psychopath, you are!"

"She's not a psychopath." Mandy appeared at Sakhi's shoulder, a slight grin flitting across his face. "She's a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research." She beamed at him, and he winked back.

"What are you still doing here?" Naina barked at the man, lifting her gun threateningly, and he bolted at once. UV, who had come up beside her, chuckled. "He's not gonna be trying anything with a girl for quite a while."

"He better not," was all Naina said before turning abruptly and walking back down the street, towards Vivek and Tasha's car. Throughout the journey back home, she said nothing.

.

"Sakhi."

"Hnnnh."

"Sakhi, wake up. Quick." The tapping became rapid, almost frantic, and Sakhi rolled over onto her side, opening her eyes blearily. Vijay stood over her, his face tense. "It's Naina."

"What?" In a flash, Sakhi sat upright, swaying as a sudden head-rush hit her. Vijay quickly caught her by the shoulders, steadying her, and she got to her feet, brushing stray hair out of her face. "What's the matter?"

"I don't know, she's tossing around and mumbling things and UV's trying to wake her up but she isn't..." he trailed off as they entered the girls' room, where Naina lay asleep. UV was sitting on the edge of the bed, trying to wake her up. His attempts, however, were going in vain, as she merely continued twisting restlessly, occasionally muttering under her breath.

Mandy and Sanju stood on either side of the bed, watching her worriedly. Both of them looked relieved to see Sakhi. "She kept saying 'jiji' in between," Sanju informed her, and the colour drained from Sakhi's face as she looked down at her sleeping friend. "She did?" she asked faintly.

"Naina, please, you have to wake up!" UV was starting to sound desperate now. Taking her by the shoulders, he shook her helplessly, her head lolling. "It's not real! Wake _up_, Naina!"

Perhaps there was something in his voice that reached her when nothing else could, for the next minute, her eyes shot open and she let out a strangled gasp. Sakhi was by her side in an instant, and Naina blinked, turned and flung her arms around the younger girl. Over Naina's shoulder, Sakhi's brown eyes met anxious blue ones.

It took several minutes before Naina calmed down enough to be able to speak normally. Sakhi went over to sit on her own bed, accompanied by Sanju and Vijay, and Mandy perched himself on the foot of Naina's bed. UV sat cross-legged in front of her. "Wanna talk about it?" he asked gently.

In reply, Naina hesitantly leaned over, pulled her bag out from beneath her bed and rummaged in it, finally unearthing a photo in a clear plastic frame. It was of a girl of roughly their age, smiling at the camera as she leaned against a red-brick wall. She was very beautiful, with a warm wheatish complexion, twinkling eyes that were almost black and soft waist-length hair in a loose braid that hung over her left shoulder. "My older sister," Naina said. Her voice was quieter than any of them had ever heard it. "Meghna."

"She's really pretty," Sanju said, and Naina nodded, staring down at the photo. "Yes, she was." She brushed her fingertips softly over her sister's face in the picture, her eyes misting over. "That was her only fault. She was too pretty."

Sakhi, biting her lip, came over and put a hand on Naina's shoulder, and Vijay's brow furrowed. He was beginning to catch on.

"What happened to her?" UV asked, and Naina's fist clenched involuntarily. When she spoke, her voice was heavy. "What almost happened to that girl we rescued today." She dropped the photo lightly onto the bed, and took a deep breath.

"It happened when she was just out of college. I'd just finished school then. In fact, it was only a week after my exams..." Naina got a faraway look in her eyes. "She got a job at this IT company. Well-known place, fine salary, couldn't get any better, right? It couldn't." Her face darkened. "It could only get worse."

"You mean..."

"Yep." Naina's voice was hollow now. "One evening she got out of work a bit earlier than usual, in the afternoon. The area was pretty deserted. And there was a guy following her."

"Who?" demanded Sanju.

"A random guy on the road, believe it or not. The bus she took home from work used to stop a couple of streets away from our house, so she had to walk from there. Some guy with nothing better to do that day happened to see her, and he freaking followed her. Just like that. And she realised it, too, but before she could reach our street, he cornered her."

"He_ what?"_

"He was on a bike. Bided his time till she reached an empty part of the street, then cornered her and started trying to pick her up. When it became clear she wasn't interested, he just got off the bike, dragged her behind the nearest building, and... and..."

By now, Sakhi had tears in her eyes. Vijay was glaring at the floor. Mandy's fists were clenched, his nails digging into his palms, and Sanju's head was in his hands, his fingers clutching at his hair. UV, who looked as though he had aged ten years in the past ten minutes, silently reached out and took Naina's hands. She kept her gaze fixed on their entwined hands as she continued, her voice now just above a hoarse whisper. "She never let anyone know, though. But I saw. When she came home that day, I could see it in her face. She wasn't the same anymore."

Her grip tightened on UV's hands, and he tightened his hold on hers accordingly. "It destroyed her. And by the following week..." She shook her head slowly, slightly. "She was gone." Her hands went limp, slipping out of UV's and falling with a soft thump onto the bed. "Open the back of the photo frame," she said flatly.

Vijay reached over and took the photo, following Naina's instructions. Wedged in between the back of the photo and the back of the frame was a folded-up piece of paper, which he opened. Scanning it quickly, he looked up at the others. "It's..."

"Read it."

He hesitated, and Sakhi gestured for UV and Mandy to come over to they could all read it together without anyone having to read aloud. As they all silently read the contents of the preserved document, Naina leaned back against her pillows, staring off into space.

Several long minutes later, UV was the first to rise. Going over to Naina, he sat down and quietly pulled her into a hug. Sakhi, who was crying outright now, laid her head on Sanju's shoulder, and Mandy, without a word, knelt behind both of them, his head resting on top of Sakhi's as he draped an arm around either of them. Vijay, whose face bore a few tear tracks in addition to the scars, looked down at the paper one final time before folding it and carefully returning it to its place.

_Dear Naina,_

_There's so much I have to tell you, and never have. So much I'm sorry for, so much I wish I'd said and done, so much I want to say now. But come to think of it, there's nothing left to say anymore. My voice is gone, along with everything else. Along with all of me. The day that man did what he did to me, he didn't just take what I was saving for whoever I married. No, what he took was much more. He took everything I'd ever known, everything that I was. _

_I barely feel anything anymore. I don't even know who he was, yet all I see is his face. It haunts my nightmares and tortures me every waking moment. And I can't take it anymore, I can't live with this anymore. I'm sorry. I was never brave like you, I never had your strength, or your guts, or your willpower. All I can do now is give up, cause there's nothing left for me to do. _

_If you can, forgive me someday. For leaving you and Ma, for not being strong enough, and for not being there for you like I should have been. I love you so much, my baby sister, and I promise, in another life, I will find you again and be your sister, the sister you deserve. _

_It's a cruel, cruel world out there. Take care of Ma, and most importantly, take care of yourself. _

_Love,_

_Your Jiji_

.

The following evening, there was an unexpected knock at the door. And as always-

"Get the door, Mandy," UV said automatically, from where he was diligently combing his hair.

"I'm doing something here. Get the door, Vijay," Mandy retorted, from where he was cleaning the TV screen.

"I'm preparing dinner here!" Vijay yelled back from the kitchen, accompanied by the clanging and banging of steel utensils.

"Oh, for goodness _sake_, I'll go!" Sanju said exasperatedly, jumping up and crossing the hall to answer the door.

Sakhi and Naina's conversation was suddenly interrupted by Mandy walking into their room. Thankfully, they'd left the door open, so he escaped a telling-off about knocking before entering the rooms of ladies. He looked terse, which was something both unnatural and disconcerting on his normally good-humoured face. "There's someone here to see you, Sakhi."

.

/\\/\\/\\

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A/N: I decided to have mercy on my readers and give them a little less of a cliffhanger this time. ;)

And for the first time, I am actually asking for reviews. The theme discussed in this chapter is one all of us girls can relate to, so I would really like to hear your thoughts on it. I apologise if any of you found Sakhi and Naina's scene with that guy too disturbing, but I really do think that as a particularly gutsy and strong-willed girl whose own sister was a rape victim who subsequently committed suicide, Naina would not do any less when encountering a similar situation, and as a girl who knows the story and empathises with it, Sakhi wouldn't do any less either. Not to mention it's high time we stopped taking this nonsense and started fighting back. So, I apologise if you were uncomfortable with it, but I'm not sorry. Not at all. :)

Disclaimer: The line Mandy says when the guy calls Sakhi a psychopath is a (revised) dialogue from _Sherlock._


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